Tea Party Patriot View: Truth or consequences

Those who have paid attention to politics at any time in their lives have surely heard at least one lie from a politician. But what happens to the morale of the American people when the leader of the free world wants to pass Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) legislation and repeatedly makes a guarantee about it that turns out not to be true?

Was it a political lie when President Barack Obama said that if you like your insurance policy you can keep it; if you like your doctor, you can keep him?

There’s an old saying that you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

In order to successfully pass the ACA, it was only necessary to fool some of the people until it became law.

Then it was too late for all of the people.

When 160,000 Californians recently received insurance policy termination notices, a passel of shell-shocked Americans who previously believed the president are now seeing reality.

Add another 300,000 dismayed Floridians and 800,000 anxious people in New Jersey whose health care plans expire in 2014.

Nearly 2 million Californians have individual insurance.

The Los Angeles Times reported that, in my old home town of Fullerton, one resident is going from paying $98 a month for her individual plan to the cheapest plan she can find — $238 a month.

Why?

Because her plan is illegal since it doesn’t cover required services like maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, behavioral health treatment, prescription drugs, rehabilitative and habilitation services and devices, pediatric services and more.

And now she can only choose between exactly four rigid plans — in the entire United States! None as cheap as her previous plan.

The Times also reported that “middle-class Californians face, on average, a 30 percent rate increase” due to Obamacare requirements. And Forbes says the increase may increase from 64 percent to 146 percent.

There are thousands of individual Californians, cancelled policy holders, who now face a huge new expense.

What must they give up in order to pay higher insurance premiums so that the uninsured are covered? Sports activities for the kids? College tuition? Car repairs or a new car? Home repairs?

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The trick is that the ACA forces you and your family to make these sacrifices as your donation to the healthcare coverage of those the government has determined need subsidized, aka free, medical care.

The reasons why people are eligible for subsidies range from being old, sick, unemployed, drug addicts, to women who choose to have a baby out of wedlock, or suffer from a pre-existing disability such as my child has.

Regardless of the reason, Democrats passed, without a single Republican vote, legislation that requires you to pay higher premiums to subsidize their healthcare insurance.

On the Chris Wallace Show, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D, LA) described a man who had been paying $600 a month, or $7,200 a year for insurance.

Under Obamacare he saved $6,000 per year. Result: A man who personally paid for his own insurance now has a new government-subsidized policy that hands a $6,000 bill to We the People.

He went from independent to government dependent.

Think about that when you write that check every month.

Is it any wonder that so many Americans are protesting against the fiscal irresponsibility of big government?

Surely these nearly 1.3 million people and their families will have a whole new vision of how big government can transform, some would say cripple, their financial lives.

It’s as simple as this. Your healthcare costs are more than likely going up because most current insurance policies are illegal — they don’t include the 10 basic essentials the ACA requires — whether you want them or not.

More coverage means higher withdrawals from your pocketbook to cover both you and those the government decided can’t pay.

Marilyn Snyder is a member of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots. Email her at PatriotMarilyn@gmail.com